Book Poll

Ok, I think I will try and buy a book but I am not sure which one, so I am asking anyone who reads this to please post which C programming book they like the most(please remember that it has to be a C book, but then again what is this whole page about?)

Being a beginner myself, I have to recommend the book by Deitel, I think it is called "How to program in C". The book itself is devoted to C and C++. It is one of those book that does not treat you like an idiot, it actually teaches usefull things, not just printf and the use of variables. It teaches things like recursive functions, different types of sorting algorithms, etc. It also has special sections at the end of each chapter which are full of excercises that try to show you how everything you have just learned can be used in a real life situation, for example, in an airline company, or a bank, etc....

I give this book a 9 out of 10, compared to other books.
Oh yeah, i almost forgot, throughout the book, it gives you tons of tips on how a certain technique is better then another, from the computer scientist's point of view, or from the code readability point of view, and most important, from the performance point of view.

on deitaling

hi,

i really do NOT recommend the Deital books. though they look really good and have many good examples, there is one huge problem:

the authors get LOST in the examples.

i have Perl: How to Program and C++: How to Program. i have a really difficult time reading them when i just want to know what a function does. i find myself wasting lots of time working through the text. many times i find the explanation lacking. so, before you spend your $68 on the book, make sure that you like their style--and get a good c reference.

i have the C++ Primer Plus also and it's ok. it suffers from similar problems, but tends to be a bit more in depth about the functions they present. but, it's ok. it doesn't cover everything and it still uses scanf () for parsing input *sigh*

i really like Practical C Programming by Steve Oulline. this is a very good book for a new programmer -- especially if you have never programmed before. he beings the book with GOOD CODING STYLE and moves into language. be aware that most of the language is covered, but he doesn't make an attempt to be comprehensive. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND...the goal is to get the newbie up to a certain baseline. many people did not like the book because they did not understand this.

by the way, the C Reference Manual , 5th Edition by Harbison and Steele is very good. you should keep it handy when reading any of the 3 previously mentioned books. you should probably just get it so you have it on hand.

i also have Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets...it's a bit dated, but is very good ( it's like Effective Perl Programming ). you might want to look at it after you get through a basic book or two.

Check out Linux Kernel Projects for some projects to do once you get done with your basic book and have written a few thousand lines of experimental c. it starts out easy ( gives you code skeletons to fill in ) and gets progressively more difficult. also, reading the linux kernel code is a great test of your skill and patience.

I got a C book from wrox press written by Ivor Horton (sp.) It had fairly easy to understand examples and a brief explanation of each code segment. Although the book was pretty good, it could have advanced a little further than it did. If you're interested, you can check it out at http://www.wrox.com

You can also download code samples from the varius books.... or at least you could the last time I tried.

I referred the "Let Us C - Yashawant Kanitkar" to begin with. A damn cool book. So neatly explaning how things work in C. Also, this guy (the author) has written a book on Pointers itself, the best book i've ever seen on pointers. You can probably get hold of this book searching on the net.
On the advanced programming side, I basically learnt on the net searching for various kinds of sites, mainly on programming in UNIX. Though I recommend books written by Richard Stevens.

Ya, I am learning a quite a bit here actually(though a lot of it is above a beginners head ) but looking at actual code and seeing the problems being fixed(and fixed the right way)is cool. also I am writing things and searching the net, I already got 'Sam's Teach Yourself C Programming in 21 Days', it is pretty good but it has taken me like 2 weeks to get to the end of day 3 because I keep trying to make my own stuff but that is ok, or so I am told

Originally posted by shaik786 I referred the "Let Us C - Yashawant Kanitkar" to begin with. A damn cool book. So neatly explaning how things work in C. Also, this guy (the author) has written a book on Pointers itself, the best book i've ever seen on pointers. You can probably get hold of this book searching on the net.
On the advanced programming side, I basically learnt on the net searching for various kinds of sites, mainly on programming in UNIX. Though I recommend books written by Richard Stevens.

Kanetkars book are horrible , his books teach Turbo C not C , I would never recommend Kanetkars book to any newbie .

If you are totally new than the 21 day books by Sams Publishing are good. You can go one step higher with the Sams Publishing Waite Group books on C. After that go to this website and look at the book review section < www.accu.org >.

It has all the fundamental topics + it has a special chapter which shows you around all the standard functions and a chapter (last one) with many Example Programs to practice with. The last chapter teaches you how to develop "Tic-Tac-Toe" It's a great project for beginners...

What can I say? It's one of the finest introductory books to C that I've seen next to K&R. Despite what the title implies, it's not just about pointers even though they are often used and well explained. I have very little to snipe at in this book, and regular readers of these forums know that I'm quite the nitpicker.

>i also have Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets
Read it, learn it, live it. That is a fantastic book and Peter van der Linden's writing style makes it so easy to read without getting bored like most other programming texts. It's hard to find though, pity.

I will try and find it, is it a good book for people who are just starting out like by explaining the basics, or does it just tell you useful things like how this function works and where to use it which would be extrememly useful?